e. As he spoke, a bullet grazed his side and struck a
soldier behind him, but the force pressed on with the ardor fed by
victory. Willet did not try any longer to restrain them, although he
understood full well the danger of a battle in the dark. But he knew
that Daganoweda and his Mohawks, experienced in every forest wile,
would guard them against surprise, and he deemed it best now that they
should strike with all their might.

Robert seldom saw any of the warriors before him, and he did not once
catch a glimpse of a Frenchman. Whenever his rifle was loaded he
fired at a flitting form, never knowing whether or not his bullet
struck true, and glad of his ignorance. His sensitive and imaginative
mind became greatly excited. The flashes of flame in the thickets were
multiplied a hundred fold, a thousand little pulses beat heavily in
his temples, and the shouts of the savages seemed to fill the forest.
But he pressed on, conscious that the enemy was disappearing before
them.

In his eagerness he passed ahead of Willet and Tayoga and came very
near to St. Luc's retreating line. His foot became entangled in
trailing vines and he fell, but he was up in an instant, and he fired
at a shadowy figure not more than twenty feet in advance. In his haste
he missed, and the figure, turning, raised a rifle. There was a fair
moonlight and Robert saw the muzzle of the weapon bearing directly
upon him, and he knew too that the rifle was held by firm hands. His
vivid and sensitive imagination at once leaped into intense life. His
own weapon was empty and his last moment had come. He saw the strong
brown hands holding the rifle, and then his gaze passed on to the face
of St. Luc. He saw the blue eyes of the Frenchman, as they looked down
the sights, open wide in a kind of horror. Then he abruptly dropped
the muzzle, waved one hand to Robert, and vanished in the thickets and
the darkness.

The battle was over. There were a few dying shots, scattered beads of
flame, an occasional shout of triumph from the Mohawks, a defiant yell
or two in reply from the Hurons and the Abenakis, and then the trail
of the combat swept out of the sight and hearing of Robert, who stood
dazed and yet with a heart full of gratitude. St. Luc had held his
life upon the pressure of a trigger, and the trigger would have been
pulled had he not seen before it was too late who stood before the
muzzle of his rifle. The moonlight was enough for Robert to see that
look